SANDY — Hanna Terry liked her chances as she charged toward Juan Diego keeper Allison Bruder while looking for a play to end overtime.
Bruder faced quite a quandary. She could stay on the line and risk going one-on-one against one of 3A's leading scorers. Or Bruder could come out and challenge the breakaway — leaving an open net behind her.
"It's a tough play for a keeper," Terry said.
Terry used that tough play to keep Park City's state title quest alive. The senior forward lofted a perfectly timed ball over Bruder after she came off the line for the golden goal in the 86th minute and a 2-1 overtime victory over the Soaring Eagle on Friday afternoon at Alta High.
The Miners will face Region 10 rival Waterford for a third time this season in today's 3A championship game at noon.
It seemed appropriate that Terry scored the winning goal, given how often she has produced big goals for Park City during her high school career. But the Miners survived their stiffest challenge yet, largely because of some nice defensive stops through the second half and into overtime.
Cassie Palmacci came up with perhaps the game's biggest defensive play in the 84th minute. Kaitlin Flynn had an excellent chance to come away with a golden goal when a clearance attempt by Lindsi Lisonbee landed at her feet. Flynn settled the ball and unleashed an absolute rocket at Palmacci.
The Miners' senior dove and covered up the ball completely.
"If she hadn't made that, we would have lost," Terry said. "That was an amazing save by our keeper."
Momentum favored Park City early. The Miners went up 1-0 on Terry's first goal in the seventh minute. Lisonbee latched onto a nice through ball and worked it down to set up a corner kick by Terry. Bruder deflected the kick back out. The ball eventually came back to Terry and she worked it around until she found an opening to slot it in across the line.
The Soaring Eagle evened things up in the 19th minute. Shalyn Roberts tapped a corner kick up to Jennifer Flynn who then crossed the ball into Victoria Shimkus near the goalmouth. From there, Shimkus used one touch to drop the ball in the net.
Juan Diego built momentum after answering the early goal. The Soaring Eagle had several points where it appeared they were on the verge of creating other excellent scoring opportunities. Each time, the Miners found a way to break up the play.
"We create some of our luck," Park City coach Chip Cook said. "If you just work hard, you create opportunities and chances. The more chances you create, the more chances you have to win."
Cook felt like the Miners played in a little bit of panic at times after coasting through lopsided victories in the first two rounds. But Park City found composure when it was needed late.
"Most of us play club and, in those games, it's pretty much always like this," Terry said. "So it's not that unusual. But it's definitely a different game than (before)."
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com